A confusing 'Night at the Rock Opera'

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2007 at 3:36 PM

If you happen to be in Boston’s Theater District on Friday or Saturday night in the near future, don’t be startled by the sounds of electric guitar, hoots and hollers spilled from the Wilbur Theatre. It’s just the assembled cast of the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra paying tribute to a few rock and roll greats.

Cassie Norton

If you happen to be in Boston’s Theater District on Friday or Saturday night in the near future, don’t be startled by the sounds of electric guitar, hoots and hollers spilled from the Wilbur Theatre. It’s just the assembled cast of the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra paying tribute to a few rock and roll greats.

Belmont’s own Cristina Freda appears in a limited engagement run of “A Night at the Rock Opera” at the theater. Freda and the rest of the band are very good; the premise of the performance is pretty bad.

The Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra, fronted and produced by Sal Clemente with partner Alan Ware, was created to perform their version of “Jesus Christ Superstar — A 21st Century Tribute to the Brown Album.”

The two intended to rerecord the music of “Jesus Christ Superstar” based not on the popular musical of the same name, but on “The Brown Album,” from which the play is derived. Somewhere along the way Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, musical theater god, decided he wasn’t pleased with their idea.

So the two wrote the mini rock opera “Will We Rock You?” based on their troubles. It casts Webber as the villain and mocks the whole fiasco. Rock ballad “Andrew Lloyd Webber Said No” pretty much says it all.

Ok, Webber said no. So why did URO perform two songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar?” Why did they perform tracks seven through 17 of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road?” Why did they perform only song by The Who, but performed six Queen songs scattered throughout? No answers were forthcoming at Friday night’s show, though Clemente did speak to the audience on a variety of other topics.

The performance came off as a grandiose scheme from a failed rock star to create a way to live his dream. It seems the men established a seven-member band with approximately 20 vocalists, then hastily threw together something for them to perform.

The only cohesive theme is “rock and roll,” and that’s not enough to hang a performance on. The musicians are clad in garments that remind one uncomfortably of high school years spent imitating rock stars. There’s no choreography to speak of. And most of the choice parts were handed over to Clemente.

To be fair, Clemente doesn’t always front the band. It just feels like it. It’s just that it’s so difficult to figure out what they’re doing. And the band is very, very good at what they do, Freda included. She took the lead on a rendition of Queen's “Fat Bottomed Girls,” a rollicking song with a message that is still important to today's youth. “Fat bottomed girls, you make the rocking world go 'round …” she (and Freddie before her) sang. URO's version stayed fairly close to the original, given the obvious fact that Freddie Mercury was not a woman and Freda definitely is.

The people on stage don’t look like they’re having fun; they look like they’re acting like they’re having fun. That would be fine for musical theater, but this isn’t musical theater. There’s no plot to tie the set together; it’s just a bunch of talented people performing classic 1970s songs in one of Boston’s venerable old theaters.

There’s something very disconcerting about listening to an audience hoot and holler while the gold gilded ceiling glistens through the lingering mist from the fog machine. The Wilbur isn’t the right venue for this performance. The avant-garde Zero Arrow in Cambridge might be a better choice. Then the audience can pretend they are in a nightclub. Or better yet, do it in a nightclub.

If you want to see a band, go see a band. Don’t go see these people pretending to be a band.

Tickets are available for Friday and Saturday performances through Nov. 17, with two Sunday performances on Nov. 11 and 18. Tickets are $35 for all sections and are available at the Wilbur Theatre’s box office (617-931-2787) or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

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